The Martial Soul Skeleton, in Douluo Continent's Bone-Changing Susanoo

Chapter 40 Self-created Soul Skill, Finger Flick

Because they were standing very close, Xia Liang could clearly see the entire process of Dugu Yan possessing the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul.

Compared to her normal state, after being possessed by the Jade Phosphorous Serpent, Dugu Yan not only transformed her lower body into a snake's body, but even her emerald green eyes shrank to the size of a snake's eyes, her purple hair became darker, and her aura became stronger.

Seeing that both sides had activated their martial spirits and were ready to fight at any moment, the host quickly moved to the foot of the fighting platform and shouted into his megaphone, "Well then, you two, let the martial spirit duel begin!"

The rousing voices ignited the audience's enthusiasm. Amidst the surging cheers and shouts, Dugu Yan simply retreated twenty meters without launching an attack.

She already had the advantage in spirit power and spirit rings in this battle, and if she attacked first, it would definitely draw boos from the audience.

"Master Xia, out of consideration for your hard work for us students every day, I'll give you three moves. For the first three moves, I'll only defend and not attack. After that, I'll show you the consequences of daring to challenge me!"

After uttering the last word, a sinister glint flashed in Dugu Yan's eyes. If it were anyone else, she would have ended the battle directly with the Jade Phosphorus Serpent Venom, without uttering a single unnecessary word.

Fighting against opponents of a higher level allows for killing.

But the dishes cooked by Chef Xia in front of us are indeed unique in flavor. If we accidentally poison him, everyone in the academy will never be able to taste such delicious food again.

Xia Liang appreciated Dugu Yan's kindness in offering his services and immediately changed tactics. After his one-meter-long Iron Bone Blade disappeared, he activated his first soul skill, Netherworld Transformation, and his second soul skill, Iron Bone, simultaneously.

Xia Liang swiftly raised his right hand, and the fingertips shot out like bullets, flying towards Dugu Yan's location with a loud whooshing sound.

Dugu Yan clearly did not expect her opponent to have a long-range attack soul skill. Faced with the five finger bones flying towards her, she subconsciously swung her emerald green snake tail forward.

"Wild Goose, don't defend yourself, get out of the way!"

Upon hearing her teammate Yu Feng's urgent shout from the spectator area, Dugu Yan immediately stopped her snake tail sweeping forward and quickly lay prone on the Soul Arena floor, narrowly avoiding the blast of five finger bones.

At that moment, five finger bones shot straight into the wall below the audience.

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

Five clear buzzing sounds rang out in succession, which were the sounds of five finger bones piercing through the wall.

As five dark holes suddenly appeared in the wall, not only the audience in the stands, but even Dugu Yan, who had just turned her head to look behind her, was stunned.

If I had used my snake tail to block those five extremely penetrating finger bones, wouldn't my snake tail have been pierced through five holes, just like that wall?

"You, you're not a defensive-type Soul Master!" Dugu Yan glared at Xia Liang, somewhat embarrassed and angry.

At this moment, the finger bones that Xia Liang had shot out with his right hand had all recovered.

Actually, those five finger bones weren't his own fingertips, but rather part of his Skeleton Martial Soul, originating from his Skeleton right arm. Even if all five finger bones were launched, they could regrow with the consumption of soul power without damaging his flesh.

This move was a self-created soul skill that Xia Liang learned a year ago. He named it Finger Flick, which is a homonym for bullet.

Using the burst of soul power as propulsion, the finger bones at the fingertips can detach rapidly like a gecko shedding its tail and shoot out.

With the 100% power amplification from the first soul skill, Netherworld Transformation, and the hardening from the second soul skill, Iron Bones, along with the penetrating power of being sharpened into a point, plus the spiral trajectory formed by the burst of soul power, the power of this finger flick can easily penetrate at least five centimeters into the iron crystal slab.

Self-created soul skills will grow as the soul master grows.

In other words, the higher the soul power level, the more powerful the self-created soul skill, Finger Flick, will be.

Yu Feng's martial soul is the Wind Chime Bird, which has the wind attribute. He can judge the strength of the power by the wind speed generated by flicking his finger.

That's why he was able to remind Dugu Yan in time.

However, even without Yu Feng's reminder, those five finger flicks wouldn't have actually harmed Dugu Yan.

Because Xia Liang had already reduced the consumption of soul power when activating the skill, weakening the overall power of the finger flick in advance, this level of injury could be healed under the soul skill healing of a healing soul master.

Before Dugu Yan could react, Xia Liang's right hand had already made a gun gesture and pointed forward. Accompanied by a sudden burst of soul power concentrated at the fingertip, a bean-sized finger flick shot out of the finger, as fast as a flash of cold light.

Dugu Yan felt a tremor between her brows and immediately twisted her snake body to the left front to dodge.

After narrowly dodging the flying finger flicks, she hadn't even had time to regain her balance before another finger flick shot at her forced her to retreat several meters.

The skull has five fingers on its right arm, meaning it can fire five finger flicks in quick succession.

Just before the five finger flicks forced Dugu Yan back to the edge of the Soul Arena, Xia Liang moved. As he accelerated forward, a giant, fleshy skeletal hand rapidly grew from the dark purple ribs covering the right half of his body.

Under the control of his mind, the ten-meter-long skeletal giant hand pushed forward, and the two-meter-wide metacarpal bone slammed into Dugu Yan's body.

The domineering palm strike stirred up a gale. Dugu Yan first endured the blow from the giant skeletal hand, and then was blown away by the gale, crashing heavily onto the Soul Fighting Platform.

This cross-level spirit battle challenge ended rather abruptly.

Not only Dugu Yan herself, but also all the audience members present were caught off guard.

It all happened so suddenly. So suddenly that Dugu Yan was eliminated before she even had a chance to use a single soul skill.

Sitting blankly on the floor below the Soul Arena, Dugu Yan watched Xia Liang walk to the edge of the Soul Arena, her eyes filled with disbelief.

Looking down at Dugu Yan's gaze, Xia Liang smiled. "Exactly three moves. Thank you for letting me win. You've lost this battle against someone of a higher level."

It was a very ordinary sentence, but when it reached Dugu Yan's ears, it sent a shiver down her spine.

"You lost," this declaration was even more aggressive than the fingerstyle flick just now.

What Dugu Yan felt most deeply was humiliation.

He confidently declared that he would give his opponent three moves first, intending to end the fight after those three moves.

Unexpectedly, their cleverness backfired, and they ended up as the losers.

Who would want to accept such a fact?

After glancing at Dugu Yan sitting in the audience for a few seconds, the host finally reacted and loudly announced into his megaphone, "Congratulations, Bone King, on successfully completing the challenge against a higher-level opponent. Your record is now eleven wins and zero losses. Dugu Yan has lost, bringing her record to twenty-five wins and one loss. Mr. Bone King, you can register your points at the front desk later. Thank you for bringing this challenge to the audience."

The front desk of the Grand Arena.

After showing his Soul Battle Badge to the receptionist and registering his points, Xia Liang received a large bag of Soul Battle Coins as a reward for his Soul Battle victory, as well as 10,000 Soul Coins from Dugu Yan as a wager for a Soul Battle beyond his level.

In addition, there's the bet of 30,000 gold soul coins in the cross-level soul battle gambling, with odds of 1 to 3.

This victory in the Soul Battle resulted in a total profit of 100,000 Gold Soul Coins.

The Great Soul Arena truly lives up to its reputation as the largest casino in the Douluo Continent; making money here is far more lucrative than working as a mercenary.

With this money, we can do another whale glue business with the Shui family of Tianshui City.

After depositing one-third of the gold soul coins into the silver bracelet, Xia Liang then deposited the remaining two-thirds into the red compartment of the three-colored ring, storing them separately in two soul tools. Even if he lost one of them, he wouldn't be completely ruined.

Just as he was about to leave the front desk, Dugu Yan suddenly ran out from the direction of the entrance to the Soul Arena.

Xia Liang was about to leave after tucking the three-colored ring into his belt, but Dugu Yan quickly spread her arms to block her way.

"Master Xia, do you think you can just run away after winning?"

(End of this chapter)